The Bible Is Becoming Less Important To Most Americans

Once upon a time, the vast majority of all Americans believed that
the Bible was the Word of God, but now things have fundamentally
changed. With each passing year, the Bible is becoming less important
to most Americans.

The results of the most recent State of the Bible
survey are absolutely shocking. The survey was conducted by the Barna
Group on behalf of the American Bible Society, and it clearly shows that
the Bible is becoming less important in the daily lives of Americans.
Sadly, young people are rejecting the Bible and rejecting Christianity
in higher percentages than anyone else. The Bible tells us that there
will be a great apostasy in the last days, but to see it start to happen
is incredibly sad. The following are some of the most noteworthy
results of the survey....

In 2011, 54% of American adults said that the Bible has too little
influence in society today. In 2012, that number was only 47%.

The survey found that 55% of all American adults read the Bible to be closer to God. That was a 9% decline from 2011.

In 2011, 53% of American adults believed that "the Bible contains
everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life". In the
2012 survey, that percentage fell to 48%.

Last year, 67% of all American adults said that they want to read
the Bible more. This year, only 60% of all American adults said that
they want to read the Bible more.

54% of all respondents to the survey this year were not able to correctly identify the first five books of the Bible.

46% of all American adults believe that the Bible, the Quran and the
Book of Mormon "are different expressions of the same spiritual
truths".

36% of all American adults read the Bible less than once a year.

According to the survey, younger Americans consider the Bible to be
less important than older Americans do. Only 34% of Americans in the
18-27 age bracket believe that "the Bible contains everything a person
needs to know to live a meaningful life". In the 66 and older age
bracket, 62% believe that "the Bible contains everything a person needs
to know to live a meaningful life".

As the Bible becomes less important to most Americans, they are also
increasingly coming to believe that all major religions are acceptable
paths to God.

In fact, a movement known as "Chrislam" that is attempting to draw
together Christianity and Islam is making inroads in churches all over
America. For example, last year dozens of churches publicly read from the Quran
during their worship services one Sunday as part of an interfaith
project promoted by the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First.

Most Americans simply do not believe that there is a single way to
God anymore. One survey that was conducted a while back discovered that
52 percent of all American Christians believe that "at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life".

For many other Americans, religion is simply not important at all. A survey that was conducted by LifeWay Research found that 46 percent of all Americans never even think about whether they will go to heaven or hell at all.

Without a doubt, Christianity is losing its dominant role in American
life. Most Americans still consider themselves to be "Christian" in
one sense or another, but the percentage of Christians in the United
States is falling fast. Back in 1990, 86 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be Christians. In 2008, that number had plummeted to 76 percent.

So where are all of those people going?

Well, certainly a number of other religions have grown rapidly, but
so has atheism. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau the number
of Americans with "no religion" more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

This is particularly true among young Americans. According to one survey, 25 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 29 age bracket say that they have no religion.

Survey after survey has found that the younger a person is, the less likely they are going to be Christian.

Young adults in America today are far less likely to be engaged in
religious activities than their parents or grandparents. The following
are some of the results of a survey of young adults that was conducted by LifeWay Christian Resources....

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

•65% rarely or never attend worship services of any kind.

•67% don't read the Bible or any other religious texts on a regular basis.

There appears to be a huge drop off in church attendance during the
transition from the teen years to the young adult years. The following
comes from a CNN article....

David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the
Barna Group, an evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the
alarm. In his new book, "You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving
Church and Rethinking Faith," he says that 18- to 29-year-olds have
fallen down a "black hole" of church attendance. There is a 43% drop in
Christian church attendance between the teen and early adult years, he
says.

But that doesn't mean that young adults in America are fully rejecting spirituality.

In fact, spirituality and the supernatural have been at the very
heart of some of the biggest entertainment phenomenons that we have seen
in recent years. Harry Potter and Twilight both captured the
imaginations of millions upon millions of young Americans.

In fact, many music superstars have found great success by using dark
imagery that fully rejects Christianity. Satanic imagery seems to have
a great allure for many young Americans today. The following comes
from a recent Fox News article....

Lady Gaga, for example, frequently uses satanic
imagery in her music videos. A simple Google search of Gaga’s name
yields results that suggests everything from her being a servant of the
dark lord, which she does little to dispel, to her involvement with the
Illuminati, an alleged secret society of powerful musicians, CEOs and
politicians rumored to worship the devil.Similarly, Kanye West has garnered attention with controversial
satanic images in his music videos and joking that he is involved with
the Illuminati. West's frequent collaborators Jay Z and Beyonce are
rumored to be involved with the group as well.Rapper Tyler Okonma, better known by the stage name Tyler the
Creator, has even branded himself the son of Satan in his song
“Bastard.”And with Satan’s imagery arguably translating to remarkable
success for these stars, who have Grammys and gold records under their
belts, experts don’t see it going away any time soon.

We need to reach these young people with the truth while there is still time.

Large portions of the church are sleeping and this generation of young people is rapidly slipping away.